Now We're Even
by Ms Anon O'Mas
Summary: This oneshoot is based on the speculations of what the next episode "Arrow of Time" 5x11 is going to be about so I'm just going to warn you there may be a spoiler or 2. R,E&R ;D further warnings inside


**Disclaimer:** **I do not own NUMB3RS or anything related to it (no matter how much I WISH :( or until I win the Lottery :P ) but I do own creative right to the plot of this story.**

**WARNINGS:  
SPOILERS:** **Depends how you look at it but to be safe 5x11 "Arrow of Time". Although it is just my speculations based on a spoiler of the cast list from TV(dot)com.  
****PAIRINGS: Don/Robin Charlie/Amita**

**!!!! DEATH FIC !!!!**

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Four dawn warehouse raids in a row would make anyone want to sleep for a decade but this was not why Supervisory Special Agent Don Eppes was napping in his office chair. What really exhausted Don was the paper work that went along with the raids and the case which had caused them. Don Eppes absolutely hated paper work but he liked most of the aspects of his job so he did it even if it meant that he was still at the office at 7.35 at night. Thanks to Charlie though, they had taken out a string of Meth labs owned by some dangerous gangsters and thanks to his team no one was hurt. So life was good. Suddenly he felt a vibration and beeping from his belt that jolted him awake. It was an anonymous text message. He opened it and began to read.

'You tortured then sent me to jail Agent Eppes but this is not why I am doing this.

You killed the person I loved now I will do the same.

You started it.

Now I am finishing it.'

He frantically opened the picture attached to the message. He nearly fell off his chair. It was Robin. He didn't waste any time, he grabbed his car keys, gun and badge and shot off towards the elevator while calling Robin. It rang twice before she picked up just as he jumped through the shutting doors.

"Hello G-Man." she purred. Any other time he would have played along but he just needed to make sure she was safe.

"Where are you?" Don cut in before she could say anything else. He tapped his foot as he watched the floor numbers pass.

"I'm just outside work since you said you'd be working late I decided to as well. Do you not remember our phone conversation just 2 hours ago?" she asked in a disapproving tone.

Their chat just came to him but he had no time to explain. "Look Robin, I need you to go back into your building and tell security that their's a threat against you and that you need to be somewhere safe until I arrive." he urgently said while dashing through the car pack towards his SUV.

"Don, what-"

"I've got no time to explain I just need you to do that right away." his voice was slightly pleading.

"Okay, I will." she said in a worried tone.

Unlocking his vehicle and climbing in, "I'll be there in-" just as he was about to start the engine he heard a loud noise on the other end of the phone but he froze in utter fear and felt his blood run cold as he heard the next sound which he knew only too well. Gun shots. "Robin! ROBIN!" shouting down the phone he quickly gave up on that and flew out of the lot at 60mph. Pressing speed dial 4.

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It was a rare day when he would get enough time to go home for lunch which just added to his recent happiness. There was nothing better than some of Alan Eppes' famous lasagne for lunch even if it was from last night. He had just helped Don solve a case which put 4 Meth labs out of business and he was up to date with all his work at CalSci plus his relationship with Amita had never been better. Life was good. He was so busy, contemplating his Cognitive Emergence Theory which he now had time for that he never noticed as someone watching him pull up in front or the Craftsman house. Charlie didn't even realise someone was following him into the house until he was pushed onto the floor of his hallway. The door shut as he rolled onto his back. Charlie only got to stare up in disbelief for a couple of seconds before the side of his head burned with pain then everything went black.

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Don arrived in the car park just at the same time an LAPD squad car was. As soon as he saw Robin sitting on the hood of a car talking with a security officer, his heart leapt with joy, he bolted from the car as soon as he had the engine off.

"Robin!!" he shouted, running towards her. All he wanted to do right now was hold her and make sure she was alright.

"Don!" she looked pale and shaky plus she had some scrapes on her hands and arms. "I can't believe… I killed him. I only meant to… wound him." she couldn't continue, she broke down into tears. Don just pulled her towards him. Never wanting to let go, muttering calming words to her.

Once she had calmed down he finally took his attention off her and looked in the direction of the dead body still holding onto Robin. Laying a few cars away was Buck Winters, a bullet hole right where beside his heart. He should have been in jail where Don put him over 2 years ago. Why was he here? How had he gotten to Robin? He couldn't believe she was put in a position where she was forced to harm of kill another human being, he struggled with it most of the time, this must be impossible for her. Just then a familiar voice cut in.

"There are some medics over there if you want to get those scrapes checked out." David said with a soft tone of voice.

"That's a good idea." Don mentioned while letting go and taking a step back to get a look at Robin's hands. Then putting an arm across her shoulder and gently turning her towards the ambulance.

"Don, there is something you need to know." Colby said seriously as he walked up and stood next to his partner.

"They're just scratches, Don, I ca-" she didn't get to finish.

"You're getting checked out whether you think you like it or not." he said stubbornly, looking straight into her eyes.

"Fine." Pouting a little, "But I can go on my own. You'll still be able to see me and everything." as she said this she pulled the security guards jacket around her more, shrugged Don's arm off and limped towards the medics. David caught Don's look towards him and knowing what he wanted, he nodded, and jogged off to help Robin. Seeing that she wasn't being too proud, letting David help her, he turned to face Colby with an expectant look.

"It turns out that Buck escaped just over a week ago from prison." Colby opened his mouth to continue but Don had little patients.

"Why weren't we notified? Hell! Why wasn't the whole country notified?!" Don was really pissed now.

"Another FBI office closer to the prison was called in and was about to call us when they found remains a couple of miles from the prison in the forest. They assumed that he escaped however because there is a large forest surrounding the jail filled with bears, wolves and mountain lions they then thought that he was eaten by a bear when they found them." He explained further but saw this was only angering his boss more.

"So, they didn't check! What are they?!" Don was just raging like a bull now. "IDIOTS!" he exclaimed and stalked off towards the body where the coroner was just beginning her procedures.

"Don," Colby chased after him. "They really thought it was him so they ordered DNA but they had to send out for that and it just came back today. They said they tried reaching you just there but you didn't answer. They sent a Fugitive Recovery Agent up because they-" Don cut him off not really caring about them assholes right now.

"I don't know why he's smiling." Colby gave his boss a weird look but then saw what he was talking about. The kid did look like he was smiling. There was a silence and Colby was just about to continue when Robin spoke from behind them.

"I agree, none of his shots even came close to hitting me. Either he was a really, really bad shot or he missed on purpose. Plus, he saw I had a gun but it was like he wanted me to shoot him." she looked at him but then turned away from him and looked at Don who was studying the corpse.

"It's not like he has never shot anyone before and," David's cell rang and pulled it out of his pocket to answer. "He did say in the text that-" but David's words distracted him. David handed him the phone with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Dad, what's up? Cause we're kind of busy here." he wandered why his Dad hadn't called him but then remembered that his phone was back in the truck.

"Oh, right. Then I guess Charlie is with you so I'll just go now." Alan said apologetically. "Although, it would be nice if he did phone his girlfriend about it and I don't see why he couldn't give Millie a little notice about him needing to skip his afternoon class. It's like he's forgotten everything your mother and I taught him."

Don was totally confused by his father's ramblings. "Wait, Dad! Charlie isn't with me. What are you talking about?" There was silence at the other end of the phone.

"Amita and I haven't seen or spoken to him since this morning, he missed his morning class and he said that he was going to make Amita dinner tonight also he said he was going to work on his Cognitive Emergence work tonight because he has been swamped with school work and cases. He hasn't done any of it. When we tried calling him it just rings out then goes to voice mail." Alan was extremely worried by now but Don felt like he was going to be sick.

Just as they were about to zip Buck up into the gurney David spotted something, "What's that?" he pulled out a rubber glove and put it on then plucked a piece of paper sticking out of his pocket. He read it with a bemused look but Colby knew what the message meant. David handed it over to Don. The message caused him to loose all hope.

'Now we're even, Eppes.'

Just then he could hear his Dad shouting his name through the cell, he handed the note to Robin, and he answered Alan. "Dad, I need to call you back, okay?" He saw David's look when Colby told him what he thought the message meant. He also felt a squeeze of his shoulder; he knew it was Robin trying to comfort him.

"Okay, bye." his Dad said knowing that something was wrong.

"Don, the FBI looking," that last word he laced with sarcasm. "For him said that Winter's internet history when he had access to it shows that he researched you, Robin and," giving him a sympathetic look but Don knew whose name he was about to say. "Charlie."

He saw that the ME was going through his pockets to see if there was anything else that the FBI wanted to see. "Wait." the ME paused as she was just about to bag a set of car keys. "Can I see those keys?" she looked at him but then saw that he was not one to be messed with and handed him the keys. His face went whiter than it already had which seemed impossible, he gulped. "I need to get Charlie's license plate number so we can spread out and look for it." he forced his Agent side to take over but his voice still came out shaky.

David and Colby looked at each other then David spoke. "We'll do that and inform LAPD, they can help."

"Once you find the car you wait for me to get there before you look inside." David and Colby nodded simultaneously then turned and walked away.

"I can stay and help you look-" Robin offered.

"I'm taking you home." He slipped a hand under her arms to support her on the way back to the SUV.

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Once Don had gotten the call he raced back and round the corner of Robin's offices to a side street. He took a deep breath before stepping out of the car. His heart rate increased as he got closer to his brothers car, his legs were wobbling and he thought he was going to pass out. He reached the boot and saw Colby and David's faces and then I saw why they looked like that. There blood smears on the trunks handle. My hands were shaking, visibly, as I took out the keys and unlocked the boot.

"I can't do this." my voice was trembling; I stepped back from the boot.

Colby stepped up beside me and stood for a moment then he asked me the hardest question of my life; "You ready?" I didn't want this to happen, I wish it wasn't true and all a dream. But I knew it wasn't and that this was going to have to happen sometime. I just nodded, not trusting my voice at the moment. I was silently praying for what I thought not to become real.

I feel to my knees beside the open trunk. "No, Chuck." I whispered as the tears came rolling down my cheeks.

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_A/N: Sorry, it's kind of a mess. I just had to right it down though. Ever since I heard about the plot to 5x11 and that they were bringing back Buck I just had to write this down. And don't ask what happened to Nikki because she was going to be in it but since I writing off the top of my head I didn't realise till later plus she wasn't involved in the original case. So R,E&R all you want cause I don't mind. Criticism is accepted to :D_

_A little note about my other story, A Mistake?, I have been working on the 2nd chappie and it should be up by Sunday (British time). And the updates for that should be more regular as I have worked the plot out a bit more._


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